Ever since Microsoft bought Danger we’ve been waiting for the announcement of a mobile device from Microsoft. There have been rumors left and right about a ZunePhone, which would compete directly with Apple’s highly successful iPhone. Add another rumor to the mill, this time it’s from an anonymous source (via jkOnTheRun) that says there was a meeting in Redmond (Microsoft’s headquarters) to help flesh out the details on a Zune phone. According to this source, the Zune phone will be a specialized version of Windows Mobile 7 and will utilize the Windows Live Services. It will also feature a multi-touch touch screen.

If all of this is true, then this could spell bad news for Danger. Basically it’s everything the Sidekick is not. No awesome operating system, no excellent back-end service, and a touch screen instead of a keyboard. We hope that these new rumors about the “ZunePhone” are false, or at least that this isn’t the only phone that Microsoft is thinking about.

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Or at least not planned yet… Joel Evans over at Geek.com is saying that a little birdy told him that there is no plan in the near future for a Windows Mobile Sidekick. He was told this at a pre-Mobius event. Mobius is an invite only community run by Microsoft that apparently hasn’t found our address to send us an invite yet. Actually what he quotes is “no new phone” is in the works. We already know that Danger is working on new devices, but this confirms that Microsoft isn’t working on new hardware and we highly doubt Danger has made any efforts to get Windows Mobile running on their current platforms.

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Everyone and their brother has been sending in links about how there was a comment made by Chris Stephenson, the GM of Marketing for Zune, that mentioned that they are trying to find ways to mesh Danger and the Zune team. As of now it’s just a comment, and there’s no confirmation or discussion of a Zune Phone. Our guess is that Danger is being tapped for their UI experience because their operating systems have always been super intuitive and easy to use. But there’s always the possibility of a Zune Phone, but the question is “Would anyone buy one?”

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It’s official in the eyes of the lawyers and paper pushers, Microsoft has fully acquired Danger. Here’s the press release:

Microsoft Completes Acquisition of Danger, Incorporates Company Into Premium Mobile Experiences Group
New business group strengthens company focus on innovative mobile consumer experiences.

REDMOND, Wash. — April 15, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. has completed its acquisition of Danger, Inc., the company announced today. Danger’s expertise in building great, intuitive client software for mobile handsets connected to powerful hosted back-end services fosters rich consumer experiences in communication, media sharing, entertainment and personalization. The combined force of Danger and Microsoft strengthens the company’s ability to provide innovative mobile experiences to more consumers.

Danger will become a part of the new Premium Mobile Experiences (PMX) team, a group within the Mobile Communications Business (MCB) of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. The PMX team focuses on consumer-facing mobile projects and is led by Roz Ho, corporate vice president of Premium Mobile Experiences, reporting to Andy Lees, senior vice president of the MCB. Danger co-founders Matt Hershenson and Joe Britt will join the new organization, reporting directly to Ho.

“We imagine a mobile experience that embraces sharing and celebrating relationships and personal moments,” Ho said. “Combining Danger and Microsoft talents together in the Premium Mobile Experiences team is how we’re going to deliver cool, new, fun mobile experiences to consumers. We want people to smile every time they look at their phone.”

The Danger mobile Internet platform, which connects people to their social circles and other rich content, is an integrated end-to-end solution that enables people to interact with their friends, social communities and content through the Internet and Internet services.

“At Danger, we created a fun and easy-to-use mobile experience for today’s Internet-savvy consumer,” Britt said.

Hershenson added, “As we combine our team and technologies with Microsoft, we see a clear path to evolving that experience and delivering it to an even broader group of consumers.”

Danger employees will continue to work from their current offices. Financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Press Release

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft crazy-guy CEO, has made some comments on the future of Danger, now that Microsoft s buying them. He say:

“The Danger acquisition is really about building up an application and service aspect on top of our Windows Mobile platform. Danger is really a service application experience and we want to make sure we get that in market on a great set of phones.”

Uh oh, that doesn’t sound good for the DangerOS that we’ve all come to know and love. Maybe there’s hope that they’ll keep developing it for a little bit longer, but are the Sidekick’s days numbered? Microsoft definitely sounds like their interested in the over-the-air delivery of updates and applications, more so than the incredibly easy and intuitive user interface and hardware. It’s too early to tell, but we hope that the line of Danger devices doesn’t disappear. (How’s that for alliteration, eh?)

via (Thanks for the link Alex)

Reports on the internet from “very solid sources” are reporting that Microsoft spent $500 Million to pick up Danger. There’s still no word on exactly what the plans are for Danger, but one would assume that those will be on the way soon.

Microsoft spent a cool half a billion dollars ($500 million) on Danger, making it a nice payday for investors of the Sidekick maker. While some of the early investors got modest returns, I am told that the later-stage investors made out like bandits. It has been reported previously that the company had raised $134 million in venture backing, but in reality it’s closer to $225 million.

The deal’s big sticker price is intriguing — leading me to believe that Microsoft wants to pull an Xbox on its mobile phone business. Having realized that its traditional approach is going to relegate it to business market, Microsoft is taking a non-Microsoft tact, just like it did in the gaming console business. The reason for this deal is more than just acquiring “consumer expertise,” as the company kept repeating yesterday. Danger’s software-as-a-service technology can offer “Microsoft Services” such as Search, Windows Live Mail and Messenger on the Danger platform, using it to compete with Google Android.

Source: gigaom

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So, now that Microsoft has acquired Danger at the 3GSM Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona… What does the future of the Hiptop hold?

Well, Honestly… No one knows yet. There aren’t yet enough details out from either party.

It’s too early to tell yet if our future is Microsoft killing off Danger entirely, and releasing “Windows Mobile: Hiptop Editon”.. Or if Microsoft is keeping the Danger name around as well as the HiptopOS around and just giving Danger a well needed swift kick in the ass to get the devices into the realm of current devices (WiFi, Video Playback/Record, GPS, etc.) now that Danger will have the financial resources for the Research and Development along with the Quality Assurance needed for such changes.

But, Why did Microsoft buy Danger? As we saw in the recent SEC IPO filing, Danger was losing money… lots of it. Last fiscal year (That ended September 30th) Danger had an accumulated deficit of $188.1 Million. Did Microsoft come in to be the saving grace of Danger? Or is there an alternative plan? Danger holds the patents to the Backend service, Something that could benefit Windows Mobile users greatly. Is there a chance that Microsoft bought out Danger just to get their hand on those patents? (If the assets of the company were part of the buyout agreement.)

Also, don’t forget that T-Mobile has exclusive rights. What happens to that now? If Microsoft kills off Danger and absorbs it’s assets into Microsoft, does that contract still stand or will we see “Hiptops” on other GSM and even CDMA carriers? Was Danger in a $188.1 Million dollar deficit because they signed a contract to be exclusive to T-Mobile? It’s sure not because they aren’t selling devices. Every time you see someone in the Generation X/Y age range, they usually have some form of a Hiptop/Sidekick. Was the global outreach of the Hiptop not hitting? In other countries, 3G is the standard. Is the deficit because the device isn’t selling overseas due to the lack of 3G?

In this editor’s opinion, Hopefully Microsoft keeps Danger and the HiptopOS around, but just pours it’s financial resources into it to bring us into the current generation of phones in our category and there’s no Zunephone in the works.

There are still very many empty holes, and questions left to be answered. But, this will be a very interesting year for Hiptop fans and users, as well as Danger employees.

As of right now, it’s way too early to push any panic buttons and start to freak out about this… We need to see details of the agreement and future strategies before pushing that panic button.

Edit: Spelling corrections, thanks Aaron.

This JUST in! Microsoft, Inc has agreed to acquire Danger, Inc. Details on the Acquisition are not available, and Danger has not yet released a statement yet. (As of 9:53AM EST)

“Danger continues to provide an effortless and fun mobile experience for consumers,” said Henry R. Nothhaft, chairman and CEO of Danger Inc. “Now by combining our uncompromised application software and powerful back-end service with Microsoft, we can expand our innovative service offerings even further and take mobility to a new level.”

Stay tuned for more information as it comes in.

Source: Microsoft PressPass Mirror of PR Announcement

Update: 11:30am EST: The press release has been removed from Microsoft.com, and there is still no press release on Danger.com. More information as it comes in to us.
(Thanks, Moonrock for the update!)

We can only hope that Hank Nothhaft sobered up from a night of heavy drinking, and filed for an annulment from Steve Ballmer after he read the papers on the desk he signed.